Morningside HOA Board Meeting Minutes
8/25/2020
In Attendance – listed below.
Ben Whipple called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.
First item of business was for the board to formerly introduce themselves to each other. As a reminder for the full neighborhood membership, the first-year board members and officers are:
Ben Whipple – President
Benny Nixon – Vice President
Matt Huff – Treasurer
Jimmy Newland – Secretary
Phillip Blume
Andrew Johnson
Jeff Miller
Being the inaugural meeting, this was primarily an organizational meeting to lay out the framework for future meetings and subjects needing focus. The topics covered are listed on the attached agenda.
Ben Whipple reported that the transition of the bank account had started. Ben and Matt Huff have been working with Corie Dimitroff of Scout Construction on getting that set up through First American Bank. Ben was to double-check to ensure the name on the account was the “company name” of Morningside HOA..
There was discussion around establishing a PO Box or a central mailing address for the HOA. First Choice will be The UPS Store at the Kroger – Epps shopping center.
There was discussion around the establishment of the Architectural Control Committee (ACC). Andrew Johnson will be the board liaison for that committee. That will be a large focus of the next board meeting. There was also discussion about the establishment of a social committee. The board agreed to revisit that down the road as it was not among the most pressing items.
Jeff Miller gave a presentation about his ideas for a website for the neighborhood. This would serve as a central spot for neighborhood information, relevant documents, a link to the Nextdoor App, and even dues payment. Neighborhood members would log in to see protected information. As an IT professional, Jeff could handle this in-house for a reasonable fee. Jeff presented a list of possible URLs for the site. After some discussion, through an anonymous vote, the board overwhelmingly approved: morningsideoconee.com as the URL.
After discussion, the board agreed that it would be a good idea to form a relationship with, and have on retainer, legal counsel who has experience with HOAs and the issues HOAs face. Benny Nixon will reach out to legal contacts. Benny also mentioned that we should consider having insurance on the common property at the front of the neighborhood.
The board discussed the current cash surplus that is in the account. No decisions were made given there are pending expenses – retention pond clean-out, website, legal/insurance, etc. This will be discussed again at future meetings.
Ben Whipple reported to the board that the two houses under construction that are closest to Hodges Mill were bought by leasing agents – so they will be rentals. The board will read the covenants in detail, but upon initial scanning there did not seem to be anything that prevented this situation.
Phillip Blume reported on the state of the detention pond. While he has voluntarily been trying to maintain it, the pond is overgrown and most certainly not in code compliance. As part of the next board meeting, the board would walk down collectively to survey the area.
The board agreed the next meeting would be at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 10th.
Being no further business, Ben Whipple adjourned the meeting at 7:30pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
Jimmy Newland
Secretary
Morningside Home Owners Association
